


West Family Dinner

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Family Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29218548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: After meeting his new family, Wally tries hard to fit in with the Wests at family dinner while they try equally as hard to impress him.
Relationships: Iris West & Joe West & Wally West
Comments: 9
Kudos: 10
Collections: DCTVGen Valentines 2021 Exchange





	West Family Dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Val_Creative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/gifts).



“Wally, you’re right on time!” Iris grinned and pulled her new found brother into the house. Wally stumbled in, a little off-balance. He was still adjusting to having a dad, a sister, people his mother had never told him about. It was hard enough to lose his mom and now he had to accept these strangers as family.

“Hey son – Wally,” Joe corrected himself, unsure if the affection would be allowed. “Glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Wally nodded and looked around. “Is Barry not here?” From the looks of it he thought the man was a permanent fixture in the household. The true West son in a way he was not.

“Not tonight, he’s got other plans.” Iris and Joe shared the sneaky look they always did. Wally stopped himself from sighing loudly. There were secrets here, he just didn’t know what, but he knew it was there.

“Anyway, hope you’re hungry, I’m cooking,” Iris said excitedly. Joe had a steely smile.

“Cool. Mom used to make spaghetti and meatballs.” Wally smiled at the cherished memory. It had become something of a comfort food to him.

“Well, I don’t know if I can make it as good as her but I can try.” Iris smiled and turned to her father, giving him a warning look. “I got this, don’t worry. You two can hang out and talk.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

Before Wally could say anything, Joe turned to him. “Do you like pizza?”

“What?” Wally laughed lightly, not understanding the question.

“If we order now, we can still eat at a decent time.”

“But Iris is cooking?” Wally gestured to the kitchen.

“Yeah, Iris is good at a lot of things, I love her. Cooking, is not one of your sister’s specialties.”

Wally laughed. “Let’s just give her a chance.” He was interested to see how his sister’s cooking would turn out.

“Your choice.” Joe shrugged and took a seat on the couch, beckoning him over. Wally quietly took the seat next to him. No sooner had he sat down when they heard a scream from the kitchen. Both of them raced to the other room.

Iris stood staring at a pan filled with vegetables, which was currently smoking. “I just turned my back for a second, I swear!”

“Turn it off,” Wally said, stepping forward and turning off the stove, removing the pan from the heat.

“Damn it!”

“It’s just dinner,” Wally said easily.

“No, it’s not. It’s a family dinner,” Iris insisted. “And I was going to make a nice family dinner for the three of us and we were finally going to talk and swap stories and get to know each other. I mean, you’re my brother, I wanted to do something nice.”

“Trying to cook dinner is really nice of you,” Wally said sincerely. He finally felt that connection he was looking for. Seeing Iris in front of him like this, not perfect, it showed the cracks in the West family.

Here he was, comparing his life to theirs. Their house, a father and daughter who loved each other, family dinners. It was all so cookie-cutter, perfect already without him. What could Wally give them? With his illegal car races to make money, mom who could barely afford to keep a roof over their heads. His world was so completely different from theirs.

But seeing them like this, they were just as panicked as he was. Iris was having a meltdown over not being able to cook and Joe looked nervous as well. They weren’t perfect. Maybe Wally wasn’t all too different after all.

“It’s all right, baby,” Joe said, patting Iris’ shoulder. “Come on, let’s just order a pizza.”

“Or I could cook?” Wally offered.

“You can cook?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. I mean, mom worked a lot when I was growing up. Making mac and cheese was a way to survive.”

“Can you make spaghetti and meatballs?” Iris asked.

“I can try, but don’t think it’ll be as good as hers.”

“Yeah, Francine always was good at cooking,” Joe recalled easily.

“Really?” Iris couldn’t remember much of her mother as it was, and thinking she had been dead for the last twenty years didn’t help.

“Oh yeah. Grilled cheese sandwiches, soup when you’re sick. Mom knew it all,” Wally said with a laugh. The stab of pain was still there in his heart as he thought of her.

Iris reached out and took his hand. “I’d like to hear more about her. Our mom. If you’re willing to tell me.”

Wally nodded a little robotically. “Sure.”

His mother had told him on his deathbed that he had a father and a sister. That he had a family. Her dying wish was for him to know them better. And Wally would always be a mamma’s boy. He could never say no to her. But maybe, they could help him keep the memory of Francine alive as well.

* * *

“And then Rip and I did some karaoke, it was pretty awesome,” Wally regaled the tale.

Nora laughed loudly. “You guys literally just stole a piece of time travel and decided to go do karaoke of all things?”

Wally shrugged with a grin. “Careless Whisper is the best go to karaoke song. Remember that.”

Nora laughed again. “I’ve heard about the Legends, they’re chaotic from the stories I’ve been told.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool.” Wally looked around the house, sobering up a bit.

“You thinking of going back to them?” Nora asked quietly.

“I’m not sure yet. Might stick around, get to know my future niece.” He nudged her side and made her giggle.

“But you don’t really want to, do you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing!” Nora said hurriedly, trying to make up for her muddled words. “It’s just – from the future that I’m from. You’re really cool Uncle Wally, but you never really stay in one place for long.”

“Yeah well, it’s the speedster in me.”

“Is it, or is it you?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. It was like ever since his mother had died he had been trying to find his place in the world and never quite knowing how or where he fit in anymore.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. But Papa Joe is going to miss you.”

Wally noted silently that once again Nora excluded her mother as she often did. “Yeah, I know.”

“So, you gonna tell him or just disappear?”

Wally smiled at his grown-up niece. “All right, all right, I’ll tell him.”

Nora hugged him. “I’m gonna miss you too.”

“I’ll be back,” Wally promised. “But Nora, you know I’m not – I’m not running away from all of you, you know that right?”

“Aren’t you?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“No,” Wally responded, answering more than one question. “Cause see the thing is, family, our family, it’s always going to be there for us. No matter how far and how fast we run. We’re always gonna have people waiting on us.”

Which was why it was okay for him to go.


End file.
